New-Car Deals Create Used-Car Deals

The Daily Auto Insider: As new-car prices decline because of incentives such as Detroit's current "employee pricing" programs, so have the prices on used cars, which have dipped to the lowest levels in at least two years.

As new-car prices decline because of incentives such as Detroit's current "employee pricing" programs, so have the prices on used cars, which have dipped to the lowest levels in at least two years, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Because so many new-car buyers, wishing to take advantage of all the good deals, are trading in their old cars, there's a glut of used cars — U.S. dealers in July had about 120,000 more used-car trade-ins on their lots than they would have had if new-car sales hadn't jumped — the WSJ said, citing the National Automobile Dealers Association.

The oversupply of used vehicles means savings from a couple of hundred dollars to as much as a few thousand dollars off used-vehicle prices, compared with a similar vehicle a few months ago, the story said.

The best bargains generally can be found on domestic vehicles — the steepest discounts tend to be for SUVs and other large vehicles which hadn't been selling well as gasoline prices have risen — but the used-car market has softened across the board, even for imports.